A Maryland Democratic state senator, her brother and a Baltimore police officer have been charged with extortion and other offenses after prosecutors say the lawmaker masterminded a blackmail scheme in which her former political consultant-turned-critic was recorded in bed with a married man.
State Sen. Dalya Attar threatened to expose the affair — and interfere with efforts to find husbands for the victim’s daughters — to prevent the unnamed consultant from speaking out against her 2022 re-election bid for the Maryland House of Delegates, the feds alleged in an eight-count indictment unsealed Thursday.
Attar, 35, was ordered to surrender her passport and not leave the state following an initial appearance in Baltimore federal court Thursday, according to The Baltimore Banner.
The consultant had worked on Attar’s 2018 House of Delegates campaign, but the two later fell out for unclear reasons.
According to the indictment, Attar told an unidentified co-conspirator in January 2020 that her former ally “is still looking to screw me badly … I just want her to be a non-issue in my mind and in reality that won’t happen as long as she is relevant or doesn’t have anything to worry about.”
Later that month, Attar’s brother Joseph, Baltimore cop Kalman Finkelstein and others involved in the plot allegedly placed a tracker on the consultant’s car and installed hidden cameras inside a smoke detector at an apartment the victim used to rendezvous with her married paramour.
“Damn, I wish I had [the man’s] stamina,” Finkelstein stated in a WhatsApp voice message after the cameras were installed on or around Jan. 16, 2020, according to the indictment.
The next day, Dalya Attar messaged her brother, Finkelstein and two other purported accomplices to say: “No further convo please re getting in. I told everyone on the group how we got in. Thanks.” Later the same day, Finkelstein responded: “Everyone delete anything from that group that you can now.”
More than a year later, in March 2021, prosecutors say Attar fretted in another message to a co-conspirator that the consultant “needs to be warned before mailers to the Jewish community start coming out about things I’ve voted on in the last 3 years. We’re nearing my election. We can’t wait until she does it already. Things as simple as anti police [sic] things.”
Attar is an Orthodox Jew and became the first woman of that faith to serve in the state Senate this past January when she was appointed by the Baltimore City Democratic Central Committee to fill a vacancy.
In the same March 2021 series of WhatsApp messages, the legislator said her nemesis “wants her daughters to get married more than she wants to screw me … That’s the perfect way to scare her re her daughters shidduchim [arranged marriages] … Each mailer can do a lot of damage. We have a way that can potentially stop her. Why not at least try.”
In December 2021, Joseph Attar allegedly met with the man who’d had an affair with the consultant at a Baltimore-area shopping center and claimed to have “hours of footage of you in bed with [her] … the only thing you need to do is very simple, is go to [the consultant] and tell her, leave Dalya alone. Don’t bring her up anymore to anyone. Stay out of this election … and make sure she doesn’t do anything against Dalya.”
According to the indictment, Joseph Attar also told the man that if he didn’t do what he asked, “I’ll share this video with everybody you know, everyone she knows, every Rabbi in town, your kids, your wife, her daughters … I already have all her daughters’ phone numbers, right? And every shadchan [matchmaker] in Israel who is trying to set up her daughters, I’ll share these videos with.”
At some point in the conversation, Joseph Attar allegedly showed the man video and audio of him in bed with the consultant.
Five days after the meeting, prosecutors say, Joseph Attar asked the man if he would do as he had asked, to which the response came back: “I already told her. I did what you asked. There’s nothing else I can do. [The consultant] has already indicated multiple times that she is not involved in any activity that could or would harm Dalia [sic]. She has no intention of harming her in anyway [sic] either. You have everything you asked for. Put it to bed. Leave me the hell alone.”
In April 2022, the consultant drew Dalia Attar’s ire again with a Facebook post criticizing how the lawmaker had voted on certain legislation.
“Looks like she wants the world to know about her and [the married man],” Attar told her brother and a co-conspirator in a WhatsApp message that included a screenshot of the post.
“She needs to know we’re serious,” Attar insisted, later adding: “It’s time to show [the bedroom footage] to someone that’ll get back to her.”
Later that same day, Attar told her alleged accomplices: “Her post didn’t get any traction so this one is not a big deal … I just don’t want her to get comfortable and start posting again.”
In June 2022, the indictment states that Joseph Attar messaged the consultant with a series of threats, including: “I wonder what daughters and son in law and shadchans in Israel trying to set up the rest of your daighters [sic] would like to see videos that were shared with me,” “You have nothing to worry about if you accept my offer,” “just leave me and my family alone and nothing will ever come out,” and “Put me to the test. I dare you.”
In a statement Thursday evening, Dalya Attar said: “I ran for public office because of my strong belief in serving my community that I love, and I would never do anything to knowingly jeopardize my constituents’ trust in me. The case centers on the allegations of my former disgruntled employee. We have yet to see any tangible evidence to support the claim that I knew of any illegal actions taken on my behalf.
“I look forward to sharing my side of the story, and believe the truth will be the arbiter of justice. In the meantime, I will continue to serve my community with humility and honor, and look forward to being as transparent as possible.”
In a statement to the Baltimore Scoop Facebook page, Attar’s attorney Jeff Ifrah attacked the consultant, calling her “a mentally unstable, vindictive woman in the Baltimore Jewish community who was fired from Sen. Attar’s first campaign for cause.
“The woman has a long history of unstable behavior and lost custody of her five children in her divorce as a result. We look forward to resolving this case before trial, but are fully prepared to fight these false charges if necessary to clear Dalya’s name.”
“This is the first we have been made aware of state Senator Dalya Attar’s arrest and we don’t have any additional information to provide at this time,” Maryland state Senate President Bill Ferguson, a Democrat, said in a statement.
“The Senate of Maryland holds its members to the highest ethical standards as we serve our constituents, and we will continue to do so as we learn more about the alleged facts in the indictment.”
Baltimore City Police Commissioner Richard Worley told reporters that Finkelstein’s police powers were suspended in 2022 and he had been placed on administrative duty.
In addition to extortion, all three defendants are charged with conspiracy, unlawful disclosure of communications, and use of interstate facilities to commit a crime. They face approximately 20 years in prison if convicted on all counts.
